Eutin and Eutin castle

Eutin is a city in the Holstein Switzerland nature park (Naturpark Holsteinische Schweiz). It stands on the shore of a large lake Großer Eutiner See.


The name of the city is Slavic. This should not be surprising, since quite a few Slavic tribes lived in northern Germany. And here they built a fortress on Fasaneninsel Island in the 9th century. The island is not far from the coast, but now it is private and uninhabited.


The main attraction of the city is the bishop's castle. In 1226, the Lübeck Senate bought the status of a free imperial city from the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. What is a free city? The main difference from other cities was that the free cities supported the emperor only during the Crusades and defended themselves, while the imperial cities paid taxes to the emperor and allocated troops for military campaigns.


The imperial cities were ruled by the prince-bishop, but after receiving free status, the inhabitants of Lübeck asked him to leave. So, the bishop chose a new place for himself, having built a castle in Eutin.




In 1705, the Danes burned Eutin. The restoration of the castle was undertaken by Prince Christian Augustus, the grandfather of the Russian Empress Catherine II. He rebuilt castle in the baroque style.




The mother of Catherine II spent her childhood in the castle, and the empress herself met here the future husband of Peter III in 1739.


In the 19th century, the castle went to the Oldenburg dynasty, they made significant changes, built the top floor and changed the castle park. After 1918, a museum was opened inside.


The castle still belongs to the Oldenburg family. In the 90s, they organized a charity fund and carried out a 10-year reconstruction of the castle. It is worth saying that the area around the castle has also recently been restored. Like the whole embarkment of Eutin.








In general, the whole center looks very neat and beautiful.




Except, perhaps, of this sculpture :)


Do not miss the castle garden as well, it is quite large.










The famous composer Carl Maria von Weber was born in the city. Every year in July and August, an opera festival (Eutiner Festspiele) takes place in the castle park.


Getting there: parking by the castle N 54 08.294 E 10 37.221. Eutin train station is 850 meters from the castle, use bahn.de.